Elliott's Milkpea
Galactia elliottii
Found in florida scrub; prairies and grasslands; pine flatwoods; freshwater marshes; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Bloom
- May to September
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 44 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Evergreen scrub oaks, sand pine and rosemary on deep, white, drought-prone sand ridges, burned rarely but intensely; distinct from the longleaf and turkey oak sandhills.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
12CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Galactia
- Automeris ioIo Moth
- Cecropterus dorantesDorantes Longtail, Lilac-Banded Longtail
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Epargyreus zestosZestos Skipper
- Gesta zaruccoZarucco Duskywing
- Leptotes cassiusCassius Blue, Tropical Striped Blue
- Parectopa robiniellaLocust Digitate Leafminer
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
Show all 12
- Acalyptris tenuijuxtus
- Antaeotricha floridella
30BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Galactia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
2Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Galactia
- Megachile brimleyi
- Megachile integra
5BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Galactia
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Francolinus francolinusBlack Francolin
- Peucaea aestivalisBachman's Sparrow
- Sturnus vulgarisEuropean Starling
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications